After an incredible ceremony last night, The Brit Awards are over for yet another year. From Ant and Dec’s excellent hosting to Adele sweeping the board, this year’s ceremony is definitely one that will go down in history.
Of course, there was also nine incredible performances from a stellar line up of the world’s biggest stars. It’s so hard to pick a favourite act from the night, so let’s recap all the performances that made this year’s Brit Awards one to remember.
1. Coldplay – Hymn For The Weekend
Who better to open the show than the brilliant Coldplay?! They sang their latest single, ‘Hymn For The Weekend’ and put on a colourful performance, complete with ticker tape to cover the crowd. It’s clear to see why they took home the award for Best British Group last night, they’re amazing.
2. Justin Bieber – Love Yourself / Sorry
In one of the most hotly-anticipated performances of the night, Canadian superstar Justin Bieber treated us to a bit of ‘Love Yourself’ and ‘Sorry’. Justin enlisted the help of James Bay to accompany him on the guitar during ‘Love Yourself’, before Biebs made his way to the main stage, for a strong performance of ‘Sorry’, complete with dancers and plenty of fire (literally).
3. Jess Glynne – Ain’t Got Far to Go / Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself / Hold My Hand Medley
Jess Glynne may have left the awards show empty handed last night, but she most certainly proved her worth with a brilliant medley performance of some of her best hits. The medley included latest single ‘Ain’t Got Far To Go’, as well as number one hits ‘Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself’ and ‘Hold My Hand’. Jess wowed the crowd with big vocals and even bigger hair.
4. James Bay – Hold Back The River
Making his second appearance of the evening, James Bay came back on stage to perform his smash hit ‘Hold Back The River’. James put on a phenomenal performance, and showed his growth from being last year’s Critics Choice winner to being crowned this year’s Best Male Solo Artist. His performance was definitely one of the highlights of the show.
5. Rihanna – Work
Rihanna made a welcome return to the Brits last night, and even brought her good friend Drake along for her performance. Rihanna began by singing ‘Consideration’ (featuring SZA) from her latest album Anti, before launching into a full on steamy performance of ‘Work’. Drake joined her for the latter part and the pair made sure to put on one hell of a show for the crowd. Similarly to the ‘Work’ video, which was released this week, Rihanna and Drake had ALL the moves.
6. Little Mix – Black Magic
To mark their first ever Brit Awards performance, Little Mix went all out to impress the crowd. Not that we expected anything less of course, as these girls are true performers and love to put on a show. They showcased their individual vocals beautifully during the verses and tied everything together with a fierce dance routine. The whole thing made us want to dance along too – any chance we can join the Little Mix crew?! They might not have taken home a trophy but they put on a great show for the crowd.
7. Lorde – Life on Mars (David Bowie Tribute)
Following a moving tribute to the late David Bowie by Annie Lennox and Gary Oldman, Lorde surprised us with a beautiful rendition of ‘Life on Mars’. Lorde, who performed alongside David’s band, received a great deal of positive feedback following her incredible tribute to the singer. The band began by playing instrumental snippets of some of David’s greatest hits before Lorde took to the stage for the emotionally charged performance of ‘Life on Mars’. You can view the full video here.
8. The Weeknd – The Hills
The Weeknd, a.k.a Abel Tesfaye, put on a fantastic performance of his song ‘The Hills’ which went down spectacularly with the crowd. Despite losing out on the ‘International Male’ award to Justin Bieber, The Weeknd showed why he fully deserved his nomination. We were expecting him to sing ‘I Can’t Feel My Face’, but ‘The Hills’ was a welcome gritty offering from the singer.
9. Adele – When We Were Young
Undeniably the queen of the night after winning four awards, Adele continued to bless everyone with a beautiful performance of ‘When We Were Young’. She sings so effortlessly, and it’s very rare to find a singer that captures your heart like Adele does. It helps that she is a likeable, down-to-earth performer, and she even engaged with the crowd during the song – “You remind me of when I was young, you lot down there”, she told some of the audience members. Adele was the perfect choice to close The Brit Awards, even more so after owning the night with her wins.
Which was your favourite performance? Let us know by tweeting us @CelebMix or leave a comment below.